Nowadays, various portable information terminals such as a tablet terminal (multifunction portable device) and a smartphone (highly functional mobile phone) are put on the market. iPad (trademark) is known as a typical example of the tablet terminal, and iPhone (trademark) is known as a typical example of the smartphone. Those various portable information terminals are different in length and width sizes and positions of battery-charging slots each provided at a lower end thereof.
As is well known, a battery charger is provided to each portable information terminal as an auxiliary part. The battery charger includes a battery-charging plug connector, which is fixed to one end portion of a power supply cable, and an adapter including a plug, which is fixed to the other end portion of the power supply cable. To charge the portable information terminal, the plug of the adapter including a plug is generally inserted into a power outlet socket, and the battery-charging plug connector (terminal) is inserted into the battery-charging slot (terminal insertion hole) of the portable information terminal. Thus, a secondary battery (such as a lithium ion battery) built into the portable information terminal can be charged.
On the other hand, various holding bases (battery-charging bases) that allow various operations such as battery charging while holding thereon those portable information terminals have been proposed.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a docking station that allows battery charging and data transmission for a variety of portable devices. In the docking station disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a connector plug to be inserted into a connector insertion groove of a bottom portion of a portable device elastically moves, together with a slide component, in a fore-and-aft direction in a slide opening of a fixed component. The distance varies between the connector plug and a support wall, and hence the docking station is compatible with a variety of portable devices.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a connector device capable of easily connecting a connector of a variety of mobile phones to a connector of a cradle that is usable for those mobile phones. In this connector device, a flange of a core that supports a connector body is sandwiched between a face plate and pressing plates that are pressed by springs, and hence the connector device can move the connector body in an up-and-down direction and a right-and-left direction with respect to a connector housing.